The Orang Asli community in this district are pleading with farm owners to hire them instead of foreign workers.

Pos Tuel headman Halim Sarip said although several vegetable farms and orchards had been opened around their settlement, jobs were still hard to come by because the entrepreneurs preferred to employ foreigners.

“The hiring of foreign workers in farms and orchards around this settlement has made it tough for the Orang Asli to get jobs.

“Youths here can only take up the jobs handed over by their ancestors,” he told reporters at Pos Tuel here yesterday.

Pos Tuel Orang Asli Village Development and Security Committee (JPKKOA) chairman Atan Alang said most of the villagers had to tap rubber full time as there were not many jobs available in the area.

Atan said this situation had left most Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) holders jobless and only a handful decided to move to Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh and vegetable farms in Cameron Highlands, Pahang to work.

“There are no job opportunities here for those who completed their SPM. I urge the government to help our Orang Asli youths. They can also work in the skills sector,” he said.

Yesterday, Gua Musang UMNO division deputy chief Mohd Syahbuddin Hashim expressed hope that the government could provide more job opportunities to help Orang Asli in the interior, especially the younger generation.

Mohd Syahbuddin, the incumbent Galas state assemblyman, said that for decades most of the Orang Asli have had to depend on collecting jungle produce for sale and working their own farms.

“We hope more job opportunities can be created to tap the potential and ability of the locals. They can also contribute to the development of companies and the country,” he said.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency